Dutch Countermark On Coin Of Milan

With all the newly joined members since this was first posted,lets try again.

@worldnumis
indeed this AR 8 soldi (Milano Charles V) was counterstamped in Holland at some point between February 7 1573 and end of 1574 to raise taxes for the war effort against Spain. The counterstamp is type Delm. 141B: rampant lion of Holland in an oval with pearl border. Such counterstamps are quite rare on foreign host coins, I have seen only one on your type of coin before. Much more common are the counterstamped coins of the Philipsdaalder (whole, 1/5; 1/5; 1/10 and 1/20) and the Bourgondische kruisdaalders (whole 1/2). On the Philipsdaalders, the counterstamp is always in the neck of the king, an act of propaganda during very difficult years of the revolt.

The stamps were obliged in these days for all circulating coins in Holland and Zeeland, and represented a 15% tax to support the revolt. Enno Van Gelder has estimated that the total sum collected by counterstamps 1573/4 is in the order of magnitude of a quarter million guilders. This was a significant sum that may have contributed, together with the lion daalders (>1575) to the outcome of the revolt.

Below is a counterstamp type Delm. 141C (coat of arms of Zeeland: swimming lion) on a 1558 Philipsdaalder from Flanders. I purchased this coin some years ago when the Huntington collection was auctioned.

The second coin you show has a very different meaning: it was a mark of quality given the fact that many circulating coins were counterfeited or pruned (underweight).

The countermarks of 1573/74 have a much greater historical interest as they were a way to fight the war on the level of propaganda and hard funding. It led 7 years later to the "Plakkaat van Verlatinghe", with its very long official title :

"Placcaert van de Staten generael van de gheunieerde Nederlanden, bij den welcken, midts den redenen in 't lange in 't selfde begrepen, men verclaert den Coninck van Spaegnien vervallen van de Overheyt ende Heerschappije vand ese voors. Nederlanden, ende verbiet sijnen naem ende zeghel in de selve landen meer te ghebruycken, &c."

translated into something like:

"Official document of the United States of the Netherlands ......

This indeed was the Declaration of Independence of the United States of the Netherlands (1581). A document that according to some has had an influence on the more widely known Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, made two centuries later.

Two days ago, the "Plakkaat van Verlatinghe" was elected by the people of the Netherlands as the most important document in the National Archives.

https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/bel...an-nederland

All this to summarize the point that your first coin has a lot more historical value than the second

Plakkaat van Verlatinghe
source:
www.nationaalarchief.nl